Plug-in electrical heating unit

ABSTRACT

A surface electrical heating coil unit for electric ranges having an electrical receptacle and plug-in contacts insertable into the receptacle normally positioned beneath and to one side of the unit. The receptacle includes a mounting bracket by which the parts thereof are held in an assembled relation and are connected in place relative to the heating unit.

O United States Patent [111 3,56

[72] Inventors Harold 0. Henning; [56] References Cited Q Harvey Levine, Evanston, Ill. UNITED STATES PATENTS [21] Appl. No. 829,034

3,246,123 4/1966 Ammerman et a1. 219/451 [22] Filed May 29, 1969 [45] P 3,327,095 6/1967 Hanson 219/451 atented Mar. 9,1971 [73] Assi nee Tri ometer Inc 3,328,562 6/1967 .lasionowskl.. 219/451 g Evagnsmn i. 3,443,064 5/1969 Meng et a]. 219/451 3,466,427 9/1969 Burger 219/451 Primary Examiner-Velodymyr Y. Mayewsky Attorney-Edward C. Threedy [54] PLUG-IN ELECTRICAL HEATING UNIT 3 Clams 8 Drawmg ABSTRACT: A surface electrical heating coil unit for electric 5 2] U.S. Cl 219/451, ranges having an electrical receptacle'and plug-in contacts in- 219/541 sertable into the receptacle normally positioned beneath and [51] Int. Cl H05b 3/08, to one side of the unit. The receptacle includes a mounting HOSb 3/68 bracket by which the parts thereof are held in an assembled [50] Field of Search 219/451, 2, relation and are connected in place relative to the heating unit.

PLUG-TN ELEQTRKQAL HEATW G UNIT SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The object of this invention is to provide an improved universal type electrical receptacle for use with coil-type heating units. The receptacle comprises a compartmentalized hollow dielectric housing or socket, including a terminal or plugin contact receiving portion and a male terminal carrier. A metallic bracket is provided by which the receptacle is mounted in place and the compartmentalized housing is secured in assembled relation. The bracket also provides resilient grounding fingers carried by yieldable guide sleeves protruding forwardly of the housing.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION Theinvention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which is shown a preferred structural embodiment of the invention, and wherein:

FIG. l is a perspective 'view of the electrical receptacle in conjunction with a surface heating coil unit;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the receptacle including a fragmentary showing of the plug-in terminals of the heating coil unit;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the receptacle;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary detailed sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the components comprising the receptacle of this invention shown in exploded relationship;

FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view of the receptacle;

Flg. 7 is a plan view of the blank from which the mounting bracket is formed; and

FIG. 8 is a plan view of one of the socket terminals in an unassembled condition.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings there is generally shown a plug-in heating unit 10 consisting of a plurality of substantially coplanar spirally wound horizontal coils 11 supported upon a spider l2.

The surface heating unit 10 includes parallel plug-in terminal ends 13 and 14 which, as more clearly shown in FIG. 2, are connected together adjacent their free ends by a transverse vertical plate 15, which serves to provide a mechanical connection between said plug-in terminals 13 and 14 and acts to securely hold said terminals in parallel relationship.

From a substantial flat blank 16 of material a metallic mounting bracket 27 is formed. This bracket includes a top wall l8 and parallelly extending sidewalls l9 and Zll which are of a length greater than the top wall 13, so as to provide forwardly extending guide sleeves 21 and 22, as well as rearwardly extending tail portions 23 and 24.

Each of the tail portions 23 and 24 of the bracket 17 provides corner tabs 25 which serve a specific purpose, which will be hereinafter described.

The bracket 17 also provides a coplanar partial bottom walls 26 and 27 which together with the sleeves 21 and 22 provide an entranceway for the receptacle or socket unit 28 as seen in M68. 2 through 4.

Adapted to be secured to the top wall 18 of the bracket 17 and extending in a forward direction therefrom is a mounting plate 29 which provides a curled lip 30, which has formed therein an aperture 311 for the reception of a mounting screw or the like by which the bracket 17 is connected to any appropriate supporting structure.

The top wall 18 also provides a flap 32 which is bent upwardly at right angles thereto as shown in the drawings to be in position to contact the underside of any supporting structure provided, and thus assist in maintaining the bracket in proper position relative to the heating unit ill.

The receptacle 2% consists of a rectangularly shaped housing 33 formed from a suitable dielectric material. The housing 33, as seen in FIG. 5, by an internal center wall 34, is divided into two sections 35 and 36. At the forward end of the housing 33 each of the sections. 35 and 36 is provided with a slotted front wall 137 and 38 formed between the center wall 34 and converging sidewalls 39 and 40. The housing 33 also provides a peripheral, longitudinally extending lip 41 which surrounds the open ends of the sections 35 and 36, at the opposite end or rear of the housing-33.

The receptacle 28 includes as a structural part thereof a separatable back wall 42 of a size to fit within the confines of the lip 41 formed about the rear of the housing 33. The back wall 42 has laterally extending from one face thereof a rectangular casing 43 that is divided into equal open end compartments 44 and 45 that surround and have open communication with parallel slots 46 and 47 formed in the wall 42 and which when the wall 42 is mounted on the housing 33 are in alignment with the open ends of each of the sections 35 and 36 of the housing 33.

As viewed in FIG. 8 there is shown a substantially flat blank of material from which socket terminals 48 and 49 are constructed. Each socket terminal consists of an elongated medial portion 50 equally divided along a center fold line 51. At each end of the medial portion 50 there is provided'an enlarged terminal head 52 joined to the medial portion 50 along a first fold line 53. r

To form the blank material into a socket terminal as seen in FIG. 5, the medial portions 50 are folded upon themselves about the center fold line 51, and each terminal head 52 is first folded in an opposite direction out of the planeof its respective medial portion 50 along the first fold line 53, and then reversely bent into a converging direction along second fold lines 54 until the ends 55 thereof are bent in diverging directions along fold lines 56 so as to form therebetween an entranceway 57.

The socket terminals 48 and 49 constructed in the above described manner will then have their medial portions 50 projected through the slots 46 and 47 formed in the wall 42 so that such portions 50 are disposed within the open end compartments 44 and 45 while the enlarged terminal heads 52 project laterally from the opposite face of the wall 42.

Thewall 42 is then placed on the rear of the housing 33 within the confines of the lip 41 with the terminal heads 52 of the socket terminals 48 and 49 projected into the open sections 35 and 36 provided by the housing 33. The entranceways 57 of each of the terminal heads 52 will align themselves with the slotted front walls 37 and 38 of the housing 33, as seen in FIG. 4.

In this assembled condition the receptacle 28 is placed between the tail portions 23 and 24 of the bracket 17. Connecting bosses 58 which are formed on the opposite sidewalls of the housing 33 are adapted to be projected into corresponding openings 59 formed in the tail portions 23 and 24 of the bracket 17, and function to maintain the receptacle 28 in its desired position relative to the bracket 17. The corner tabs 25 are then bent at right angles to the tail portions 23 and 24 of the racket 17 so as to overlap corresponding corners of both the rear wall 42 and the confining lip 41 to hold the back wall 42 and the socket terminals 48 and 49 carried thereby in an operative relation with respect to the housing 33 as clearly shown in FIGS. 1 through 6.

As shown in the drawings the forwardly extending portions 21 and 22 of the sidewalls 19 and 20 of the mounting bracket 17 have struck therefrom terminal guides and grounding fingers 60 which extend out of the normal plane of the forward extending portions of the sidewalls and into the direction of the receptacle 28. When the terminal ends 13 and 14 of the heating unit 10 as well as their connecting plate 15 are projected inwardly of the mounting bracket between the forwardly extending portions 21 and 22 of the sidewalls l9 and 20 the connecting plate 15 will contact the yieldable terminal guides and ground the units. Because the terminal guides and grounding fingers 60 are struck inwardly they will normally accept terminal ends of heating units which are of different size and construction, thus making the receptacle of this unit universal in adaptation.

While we have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying our invention into effect, this is capable of variation and modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. We, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail ourselves of such variations and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A plug-in electrical heating unit having a sheathed heating element providing a pair of spaced exposed end terminals held in parallel relation by a metallic elongated transverse plate mounted on the sheath adjacent the exposed end terminals and an electric receptacle for removably receiving the exposed end terminals of the heating unit and including a mounting bracket for such receptacle, wherein the improvement comprises:

a. a metallic mounting bracket for the receptacle having a top wall and yieldable depending sidewalls,

b. a hollow dielectric receptacle adapted to be mounted between said yieldable sidewalls of said bracket and providing a housing for the terminal-receiving ends of terminal connectors,

c. said receptacle having a front wall provided with spaced inwardly tapered openings communicating with separate enlarged chambers which extend through the rear wall of the receptacle and which are defined by a peripheral lip about the rear edge of the receptacle,

d. a' carrying member for the terminal connectors adapted to be mounted on the rear wall of the receptacle within the peripheral lip thereof so as to substantially close the separate chambers provided within said receptacle,

e. a pair of terminal connectors frictionally mounted on said carrying member, with the terminal-receiving end of each positioned within a respective chamber and in alignment with one of said tapered openings formed in the front wall of said receptacle,

f. means provided by the sidewalls of said mounting brackets and by corresponding sides of said receptacle for connecting said receptacle between said yieldable sidewalls, and

g. means provided by certain ends of said sidewalls for connecting said carrying member onto the rearwall of said receptacle, within the peripheral lip provided thereby.

2. A plug-in electrical heating unit as defined in claim 7 wherein said means provided by the sidewalls of said mounting brackets and by the corresponding sides of said receptacle for connecting the same between said sidewalls, comprises horizontally aligned apertures formed in each of said sidewalls of said bracket adapted to receive and hold laterally extending bosses formed on the sidewalls of said receptacle when the same is positioned between said yieldable sidewalls, and wherein said means provided by certain ends of said sidewalls for connecting said carrying member onto the rear wall of said receptacle comprises comer tabs bent at right angles to said sidewalls about corresponding corners of said peripheral lip provided by said rear wall of said receptacle and extending over corresponding corners of said carrying member to connect the same together in an assembled condition between said sidewalls of said bracket.

3. A plug-in electrical heating unit as defined by claim 1, including resilient terminal guide and grounding fingers struck from portions of said sidewalls of said mounting bracket out of the plane thereof in the direction of said front wall of said receptacle so as to have contact with theelongated transverse plate mounted on the sheathed heating element of said heating unit, to guide and ground the same when the exposed end terminals thereof are inserted into said receptacle and into contact with said terminal connectors. 

1. A plug-in electrical heating unit having a sheathed heating element providing a pair of spaced exposed end terminals held in parallel relation by a metallic elongated transverse plate mounted on the sheath adjacent the exposed end terminals and an electric receptacle for removably receiving the exposed end terminals of the heating unit and including a mounting bracket for such receptacle, wherein the improvement comprises: a. a metallic mounting bracket for the receptacle having a top wall and yieldable depending sidewalls, b. a hollow dielectric receptacle adapted to be mounted between said yieldable sidewalls of said bracket and providing a housing for the terminal-receiving ends of terminal connectors, c. said receptacle having a front wall provided with spaced inwardly tapered openings communicating with separate enlarged chambers which extend through the rear wall of the receptacle and which are defined by a peripheral lip about the rear edge of the receptacle, d. a carrying member for the terminal connectors adapted to be mounted on the rear wall of the receptacle within the peripheral lip thereof so as to substantially close the separate chambers provided within said receptacle, e. a pair of terminal connectors frictionally mounted on said carrying member, with the terminal-receiving end of each positioned within a respective chamber and in alignment with one of said tapered openings formed in the front wall of said receptacle, f. means provided by the sidewalls of said mounting brackets and by corresponding sides of said receptacle for connecting said receptacle between said yieldable sidewalls, and g. means provided by certain ends of said sidewalls for connecting said carrying member onto the rearwall of said receptacle, within the peripheral lip provided thereby.
 2. A plug-in electrical heating unit as defined in claim 7 wherein said means provided by the sidewalls of said mounting brackets and by the corresponding sides of said receptacle for connecting the same between said sidewalls, comprises horizontally aligned apertures formed in each of said sidewalls of said bracket adapted to receive and hold laterally extending bosses formed on the sidewalls of said receptacle when the same is positioned between said yieldable sidewalls, and wherein said means provided by certain ends of said sidewalls for connecting said carrying member onto the rear wall of said receptacle comprises corner tabs bent at right angles to said sidewalls about corresponding corners of said peripheral lip provided by said rear wall of said receptacle and extending over corresponding corners of said carrying member to connect the same together in an assembled condition between said sidewalls of said bracket.
 3. A plug-in electricaL heating unit as defined by claim 1, including resilient terminal guide and grounding fingers struck from portions of said sidewalls of said mounting bracket out of the plane thereof in the direction of said front wall of said receptacle so as to have contact with the elongated transverse plate mounted on the sheathed heating element of said heating unit, to guide and ground the same when the exposed end terminals thereof are inserted into said receptacle and into contact with said terminal connectors. 